CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville City Council will not be moving forward with a resolution requesting the City Parking Commission reinstate free parking passes for council members and county commissioners.
The measure, which had been postponed from last month, has now been killed at the request of its sponsor, who has reconsidered her stance after receiving clarification on current procedures.
According to records obtained by Clarksville Now, Clarksville Parking Manager Michael Palmore sent an email to City Council and County Commission members on Feb. 2 clarifying regulations regarding free parking for elected officials on city or county business.
The email said that council members are allowed to park in the City Hall Parking Lot for free Monday-Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to conduct city business. To avoid a parking ticket, members must send their primary license plate information to the parking commission so it can be blocked in their enforcement system.
Palmore noted in his email that this task only needs to be completed once and that if the City Hall Parking Lot is full, council members can park at any metered space and then email the parking commission so that enforcement can be notified.
All county commissioners are allowed to park in the Cumberland Garage, including the connecting surface lots surrounding the garage, for free during the same hours to conduct county business. They will also follow the same procedure as council members as far as emailing their license plate information to the Parking Commission.
The email did note that all areas of Cumberland are open for parking to county commissioners except for levels 4a and 5 of the parking garage.
At the City Council Executive Session on March 2, City Council member and sponsor of the resolution Karen Reynolds explained that she would like to withdraw the measure.
“The Parking Commission has authorized elected officials to park in the city employment parking lot and county commissioners to park in the city garage when performing city business. I feel this is appropriate,” she said. “We don’t need to do this. I think it’s been resolved.”
Reynolds said the most expedient way to withdraw the resolution would be for her to make a motion for approval and have it fail for lack of a second.
The measure then failed for lack of a second and will receive no further action.